How to Install ViPER4Android on Marshmallow 6.0

We always look forward to boost our experience on our Android smartphones/tablets, either by installing custom ROMs like Chroma, or even tweaking the framework using Xposed. But there is another factor that highly influences Android users, and it is the audio experience. Today, we are here to help you install ViPER4Android on Marshmallow running Android devices.

Most of you might be well aware of ViPER4Android – it is a leading audio enhancement tool available. Yes, there are a lot of others including Beats and Dolby, but nothing beats V4A if you have it configured right. Personally, I have been using this mod for over two years now, my phones have changed, their Android version also, but V4A did stick to the app drawer.

Version Information

Here is a little detailed information about the update as stated on vipersaudio.com.

Now, without any more delay, let us head over on how you can set up ViPER4Android on Marshmallow running device.

Disclaimer

Installing incorrect/incompatible mods on your Android device may leave it non-functional or even soft-brick it. DroidOrigin will not be responsible if anything such happens. If you find yourself locked in such a situation; we are here to help you.

Before You Begin

To install V4A, you must have a rooted phone. If you haven’t rooted yet, you can check for your device in our Rooting section.

Take a complete Nandroid of your current ROM setup. So, if something goes unplanned, you can always roll back to it.

If you have a previous version of V4A installed, kindly uninstall the drivers first, remove the app completely and then only proceed with the instructions.

Make sure no other audio mods are installed, like AudioFX. If there is, you will need to remove it completely or disable it by . If you have problems doing so, contact us via comments.

Also, you must have BusyBox installed on your ROM. You can download it by clicking the app box below. (You can try other busybox installer apps, but if you face issues while installing V4A drivers, you must install this one.)

Steps to Install ViPER4Android on Marshmallow:

Extract the downloaded ViPER4Android_FX_v2505.zip and you will get two files – ViPER4Android_FX_v2505_A4.x-A7.x.apk and ViPER4Android_FX_v2505_A7.x_Nougat_IO_test_fix.apk.

Since we are going to install ViPER4Android on Marshmallow, we will only need the first on.

If you have downloaded the files to your phone, it’s fine. But if you have done it on your PC, make sure to connect your device to the PC and transfer the ViPER4Android_FX_v2505_A4.x-A7.x.apk to the phone’s storage.

Now, open the root file manager on your device and grant it root permissions when prompted. Browse to /vendor/etc and rename “audio_effects.conf” to “audio_effects.conf.bak”.

Using the file manager, move theViPER4Android_FX_v2505_A4.x-A7.x.apk fileto /System/priv-app/. Once it is moved, long-press the file, then tap on the 3-dot overflow button on the top-left and select Properties.

Go to the ATTRIBUTES tab and set the permissions to – rw – r – – r – – and select APPLY.

Reboot your device.

Go to app drawer and run ViPER4Android FX. When you will run the app for the first time, it will prompt you to install V4A drivers on your device, so tap on Yes. As soon as you tap, you will have to grant root permissions, so choose GRANT.

V4A app will automatically detect the system and install appropriate drivers for the mod to work properly, and upon completion, the following message will be displayed: ‘Driver installed, please reboot your device’. And now as advised, reboot your phone/tablet (I hope you know how to do that!).

When the device has rebooted, again launch ViPER4Android FX app.

Tap on the 3-dot menu button on the top-right of the app, and select Driver Status. It should display Status: Normal.

Start using ViPER4Android now! Tweak the settings to best match your phone and output device. Are you using specific profiles for your phone? Post them below and share it with other users. We will definitely add the list to this article. Visit the Xposed XDA thread for more information.

Troubleshooting

If your driver installation has failed, then there could be few reasons behind it. Follow the simple steps below and check if anything helps.

Uninstall the current busybox and switch to a different app to install busybox on your Android.

The most reliable and widely used method to root and manage permissions is SuperSU. If you’re using any other root method, uninstall that and opt for SuperSU.

Driver installation was successful, but V4A is still not working? The most common reason behind this is that your device may have other sound mods or tweaks installed. Disable them and completely remove them if possible.

On some devices, you may require to change your SELinux status from “Enforcing” to “Permissive”. You can do that by using the SELinuxToggler.

If nothing above has worked for you, then you may try switching to a different ROM as your last resort.

If you still have problems, comment below and don’t forget to mention your device model, ROM, and Android version.

Are you now enjoying the superior sound quality of your device? Share this article on your social profiles and let others know about it too.

Having problems with installation and setup of V4A, comment right away!

Dhananjay (DJ) is an Android devotee and a Tech Blogger by profession. He is a keen undergraduate, seeking and working hard on his ambitions to achieve something distinctive in his life. He prefers interacting with his readers in the most reproaching manner possible and his desires here are not just to reach out the tech figures, but also attract those non-interested minds to our Android universe. He proudly owns Nexus 6P, Nexus 5, OnePlus One and a Nexus 4.

It does work for some devices, while not for some others. Like it works well on my Nexus 5, but not my 6P and OnePlus One.

Narendra

Hi Dhananjay,

I`m using oneplus one which is currently in cm13.1(marshmallow) and my mobile is not rooted. I`m not that tech person however I`m too specific about audio. Just wanted to check if there any way we can install v4a without rooting my mobile. If your answer is no , can you guide me with step by stpe how to root my phone and install v4a. Thanks in advance.

Hello Narendra. Unfortunately there is no certain way to significantly optimize your OPO’s audio without rooting, unless you are satisfied by 3rd party music apps and equailizer settings.

As for V4A, it is required that you root your device since this is a system level modification. Before we move to rooting, do you have a custom recovery installed on your device? Like TWRP.

Narendra

Nope I don`t think TWRP is installed on my device. Do I have to install it first, if so can you navigate me to any page which explains how to installl TWRP on oneplus one.
Does installing recovery will format my device ?

No Installing recovery wouldn’t format your device. But in order to have TWRP, you must have your bootloader unlocked first, which in turn will allow us to flash the recovery. So do you have an unlocked bootloader?

Narendra

Nope my device bootloader is not unlocked. How to unlock the boot loader ? So ideally to install v4a the prerequisites will be as below right ?

fastboot mode is a mode on your OPO itself, which will allow your computer to send commands to the device by typing them in a command prompt window (CMD) on your Windows or Terminal on your Linux/Mac. One of these commands is the bootloader unlock command that I told you above.

To boot into fastboot mode, do the following – Long-press the power button until you see the power menu, and select Power off. When the phone has shut down completely, press and hold the volume up and power keys until you see the OnePlus logo.

Hello td99, just for our own clarification; did you try the SELinuxModeChanger app before flashing this file?

td99

Yes, and it didn’t help. I had to flash the file, remove the V4A driver, reboot, and reinstall the V4A driver. Now I am seeing “Normal” and when music is playing “Processing: Yes”, and of course how the music sounds now is like night and day.

Side note: I had restored my custom settings by using Titanium Backup and selecting “Data Only” but in doing so, it restored the old V4A driver as well. So I had to once again, remove the V4A driver, reboot, and reinstall the V4A driver to ensure that it’s the latest one.

Hello Azri, first of all, apologies for the extremely late reply.
Okay, so here, I want to know two things specifically.

1) Which ROM are you using, and did it came with any audio mods in-built? Or have you previously installed any sound/audio mods or apps?
2) Which busybox have you installed?

xsoldiercloud

Hello OP!

Nexus 5x running stock 6.01
rooted,
Installed busybox (ver. 1.2.4.2-Stericson)<< Was installed automatically by nexus toolkit
installed selinux, set to permissive
Followed instructions here: http://androiding.how/how-to-fix-viper4android-selinux-policy-issues-on-lollipop/ as I read this was a fix for marshmallow as well
Driver is installed and it keeps telling me to install the driver after the reboot.
I don't think I have any other sound modification apps. Unless you count PowerAmp music player.I also installed ElementalX custom kernel. This does actually have some sound gain setting, but that's it. Would this conflict with Viper?

This specific version of BusyBox has also helped me succeed in V4A installation on my 6P.

xsoldiercloud

Thanks for the reply. You are correct busybox was the culprit here. I’ve also read that if you don’t install viper4android as a private app it won’t function right. I have since been able to install it with the driver, however now the issue is that when I enable it with headphones nothing happens. I’ve tried re-installing the driver a few times and rebooting but it doesn’t seem to help.

xsoldiercloud

I just figured it out. Turns out you have disable “direct volume control” in the advanced tweaks of PowerAmp to get it to work. I figured it out because I started playing music with Spotifiy and noticed that the sound tweaks through viper4android were working there.

albie

the driver status is showing abnormal status… my phone is rooted and busybox is installed.. installed selinux but couldnt change it to permissive… my phone is xiaomi mi3 running on miui 7.5 based on marshmallow.. should i flash the zip file mentioned in the comments to make it working …plz help…thanks in advance..

Does your Mi3 have any other Music equalizer app?
V4A on MIUI is a bit tricky. Which version of busybox have you installed?

albie

Nope.. no other equaliser apps… i have been using this viper in my mi3 for nearly two years.. it wasn’t this much difficult to get it installed on my previous miui versions.. i think since this 7.5 version of miui is based on marshmallow is the reason for making it difficult… busybox is (stericson) ..installed from google play.. i really miss viper though..

Flash the zip file, mentioned by the guy: [Recovery Flashable zip] Viper4Android SELinux fix. If you don’t have TWRP, then Flashfire is an option once it’s to flash a zip and not firmware. Flashfire is an app by Chainfire, it’s in playstore.

Tushi Tush

I have everything working except for convolver, it doesn’t pickup any .irs files. It keeps saying “…..sdcard/viper4android/kernel empty” although i have unzipped .irs files in the folder. How can I get it to work?

Do try changing the SELinux status using the app listed in the article.

As for the busybox, it has been tricky all along. For my 6P, meefik’s busybox worked well, but it didn’t on my N5 and OPO. So just uninstall and try switching to Stericson’s busybox.

Do share a screenshot of the error.

Charles Molnar

Many Thanks, amazing sound ! Even better than what the enhancers in JetAudio could do. Just needed to flash SUpolicy and it enabled the driver. Samsung Galaxy S5 Neo with stock Marshmallow 6.01 – because there are no custom roms for the Neo 🙁

Well, it seems to be cutting in and out quite frequently. It goes to the oem Samsung sound for a few seconds, then Viper cuts back in. A couple of times it cut out until I open the Viper app and then it immed. came back. Just wondering if anyone has this issue or if there’s a possible fix.

Yeah. Something is fishy. After going through the web, I did find out that Samsung devices have always been a trouble. Remove V4A from /System/priv-app and install the apk normally as you would install any other app. See if it creates a difference?

Thx for the help Fiidelix. That took care of the busybox error. But now the drivers status always shows 0.0.0.0 It says installed and to reboot, but I just keep doing that over and over. Driver status: abnormal.

First, make sure that you are using ViPER4Android_FX_v2505_A4.x-A7.x.apk, and NOT the Nougat IO Fix apk. Then instead of installing V4A apk to system/priv-app, install it to /system/app. Grant it appropriate permissions.

Open system/build.prop and make sure “Ipa.decode=false”, “tunnel.decode=false”, and also “lpa.use-stagefright=false”.

Let me know the results. Make sure to reboot while you do everything.

Charles Molnar

When I tried to change it’s attributes I get this error, “Unable to remount the file system under “/System”. Then I rebooted and was able to make the attribute changes.
But I am still requested to install drivers each time I open Viper4.
Driver status is shaded out; I can’t check it.

Used solid explorer. Followed all the directions.
When I open ViperFX I get this error message trying to install the driver :
Driver install failed. The busybox installation found on your device does not work. This usually means you installed a wrong versionor broken busybox………….
I have busybox pro (it’s on sale now) I have rebooted many times.

I am glad it helped you. If you have any questions or requests, kindly let me know. I am also created a list of devices for which this tutorial worked. So it will help future readers. Kindly share your device, ROM, and Android version. 🙂

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Dhananjay

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Getting the same error as others, When I open ViperFX I get this error message trying to install the driver :
Driver
install failed. The busybox installation found on your device does not
work. This usually means you installed a wrong versionor broken
busybox………….
I have busybox from the link you shared above and followed all the steps as it is without any issues but only one problem which i saw is that my “etc” folder was not under the /vendor/etc, its under systems directly and vendor has a separate folder all together. Will this cause an issue? Am using Moto E3 Power with Stock ROM and SuperSU Root.

Hi again buddy! The error states that the current directory is read-only, which means it is not granted root permissions. Instead of digging into it, I would recommend you to use Solid File Explorer, as I use the same. 😉 Let me know how it goes.

Jayant Manohar Vengurlekar

It would be better if u post a video on you tube and share the link here so that it can help a lot

Jayant Manohar Vengurlekar

Thanks for the reply bro used Solid Explorer too but unable to copy to the System/Priv folder.Cann u plz share the video url how to copy it. Thanks